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PROPOSED ANNEXATION OF HAWAII. 



SPEECH 



OF 



Hon. JOHN F. RIXEY 



OF VIRGINIA, 



IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



SaturdaYj June 11, 189S. 



'W^SHIlSrGrTOlS' 

1898. 

ji. -■ i. 



68 



5' 



C SPEECn 

J^ Co OF 

^* 11 N . JOHN F . Ill X E Y . 

^- 

«n the joint resolution (H. Res. 250) to provide for annexing the Hawaiian 
^ , Islands to the United States. 

Mr. RIXEY said: 

Mr. Spk.uckk: I am not one of those who hold to such restnc-- 
tion of the powers of the General Government which would forbid 
our having a foreign policy, but believe that in all matters which 
concern our foreign relations this Government has all the at- 
tributes of sovercigntj- and the powers necessary for the conduct 
of its foreign relations and further expansion or contraction of 
our territory. 

Th-s Government has the power to "punish piracies and felonies 
committed on tlie high seas and offenses against the laws of na- 
tions.'' It has power " to declare war," '• to raise and equip armies 
and navies," and "to make treaties with foreign nations." 

The States are expressly prohibited from declaring war or en- 
tering into a treaty, alliance, or confederation. Control over the 
foreign policy of the Government is expressly ceded to the Gen- 
eral Government, and carries with it, in my judgment, the accom- 
panviiig right to all the powers of a nation in its fullest sense. 

I doubt not. therefore, the power of Congress to acquire or an- 
nex territory and to provide for its control and government in any 
manner that it sees proper. 

It is said that our Constitution does not anticipate the control 
of any territ<iry not de-sirable for statehood. While such may 
have been the intention of the framcrs of the Constitution, about 
wliicli we can not sp-ak with certainty, it is not so "nominated 
in the bond," and as I construe the Constitution, it has full power 
as to its fiirc'ign policy, and the only check is the will of the peo- 
I)le. Any other view would make us a "feeble folk" among the 
nations of the world. I am for upholding the doctrine of State 
rights within its legitimate sphere, but our foreign policy is ex- 
pressly given in the amplest terms to the General Government, 
and it is wise to concede to that Government in its treatment 
of foreign <iupstions whatever powers are necessary to meet the 
exigencies antl emergencies as they arise. 

My hesitation to lend support to the annexation of the Hawaiian 
Islands and my opposition to the policj* of conquest and of per- 
manent occupation and control of territory in the Eastern Hemi- 
Rphevfarcnot ])a.sedon the idea of restrictions in the Constitution, 
bat upon reasuns of domestic economy and of national welfare; 
and because it t^'uds to change the policy of this Government for 
the pa.st centiiry. tnr)i our attention from pursuits of peace to 
those of war, from internal to external affairs, entail upon us the 
enormous annual expense of a great standing army and navy 
2 3r)C5 



to compete first with any iiatiou of the earth, and then with all 
nations combined. 

But it will he said that this is anticipating the march of events. 
This is true, but there is no calling or business in life where we 
are not called upon to and should consider the probable future con- 
sequences of our present acts. Are they not reasonable deductions? 
The history of the world shows that, once let a people become 
drunk with the spirit of conquest, and the government, under the 
inexorable law of nature, with the desire of acquisition, accretion, 
and power, advances with rapid strides, and there is no limit to 
which it will not go and hut few things it will hesitate to do, 
giving as a reason, more or less plausible, that it is a necessity. 
This is illustrated by the circumstances attending the considera- 
tion of the pending resolutions. 

Six months ago it was conceded that the Senate, to which the 
treaty of annexation had been sent and which first had jurisdic- 
tion of this whole matter, should be allowed to complete its con- 
sideration; and it was a mooted question whether the resolutions 
could command the requisite constitutional majority either in the 
Senate or in the House. But no sooner is the victory of Manila 
chronicled than the Republican majority goes wild in its demand 
for immediate consideration by this House, and individual mem- 
bers of that party almost tumble over each other in their eager- 
ness to be counted as the original friends of annexation. The 
Speaker's opposition is ignored and his counsel disregarded, and 
for the first time since his election as Speaker he finds himself 
without support inside of his o\^^l party. Now the resolutions 
will command an overwhelming majority; the result to be that 
jingoes and annexationists, flushed by their victory, will be look- 
ing across the horizon into the Eastern Hemisphere for other fields 
to conquer and annex. 

Where shall we stop? How would propositions to annex the 
revolutionary Republics of Central and South America with their 
Spanish- American people strike the rabid annexationists? Wottld 
they not go equally wild in their vociferous declamations as to 
the great "advantages to be derived from controlling everything 
in the Western Hemisphere? Are not the reasons for the annex- 
ation of such countries much stronger? They are contiguoits to our 
own country and have a larger xiopulation and greater commercial 
advantages. Yet in their sober moments otir people do not want 
these countries; btit let the spirit of annexation and conquest 
grow and fatten upon what it feeds on, and who shall say where 
this aggressive spirit now abroad in the land will stop? 

But it is said again that the permanent annexation of Hawaii, 
the Philippine Islands, Cuba, or Puerto Rico, or any or all of 
them, doesr not necessarily lead to a spirit of aggression and con- 
qttest for the world. This I grant, that it does not necessarily do 
so, btit it inevitably does tend in that direction. A feather cast 
upon the spring branch may not be carried out to old ocean, but 
tmless obstructed by otitside matters it will go there. Just so 
stirely will the unrestrained lust of conqtiest bring us to demand 
a slice in the partition of all territory in Europe. Asia, Africa, 
and all of the islands of the sea, placing our demand upon the 
ground that we are a first-class nation. 

Fraught with what consequences is sitch a policy for the Ameri- 
can people! The most vivid imagination can not mensure thfs 
probable length and depth of- such a policy. Alexander-like, may 



4: 

^ve not weep for other workts to conquer, and dying leaye our 
world to anarchy and to ruin? Should we not heed the dying 
advice of Au-usttis Ciesar, the first an^ wisest of Rome sEmper- 
ors' Gibbon says that on the death of that Empei'or his testa- 
ment was publicly read in the Senate, and that he bequeathed as 
a valuable legacy to his successors the advice of confining- the 
Empire within those limits which nature seemed to have placed as 
its bul wades and boundaries. 

A Republic such as ours is intended primanly for the encoux- 
agpmentand promotion of peace, liberty, and happiness among 
our own people. Our mission is to enlighten and hold aloft the 
torch of freedom snatched from monarchical hands, and not to 
conquer and appropriate foreign nations, tribes, and peoples, and 
the more we depart from this time-honored policy so much the 
more will we strengthen the executive at the expense of the legis- 
lative branch of the Government. Prior to the present war who 
dreamed that any considerable following in the United States 
would ever demand tliat this Government should permanently 
occupy an-d hold the Philippine Islands in the eastern hemi- 
sphere? 

Now. a very large number of people demand that we should hold 
the Philippine Islands as invioLibly a part of our territory as we 
would California or any other State, and treat with contempt the 
claim of conservative men that they should be held for indemnity 
for war expenses. News like the following from a daily news- 
paper is eagerly sought after and indorsed and followed by the 
growing army of annexationists: 

From information just come to light it appears that the Administi-ation 
has finally determined upon a state policy concerning the Philippines. It is 
the eviden-t intention of this GoTemment to annex the islands and thus in- 
augurate a system of territorial expansion which shall broaden the interests 
of the nation to an extent not hitherto dreamed of, and plant oiu" flag upon 
the seas. 

It develops now that this policy of the East has not been hiirriedlyfonira- 
lated. It was considered and outlined even before Admiral Dewey seized 
the Philippines, and will be made operative as soon as the annexatiou of Ha- 
waii has been accomplished. Not until this has been done will the Ad:minis- 
tion proclaim its Philippine policy. 

I concede there are reasons from a commercial standpoint why 
the United States should control the Hawaiian Islands, and prior 
to the present war, when the matter was receiving dispassionate 
consideration, I felt very much inclined to support the proijosed 
annexation. I concede that it is advisable to have a coaling sta- 
tion midway the Pacific. I concede that we should control the 
Nicaraguan Canal, if it is ever built, and everything that pertains 
to it; but when I realize tliat this step is now put forward as an 
infant's step, to be followed by the giant's strides for conquest; 
and attempted colonization, I am forced to stop and consider 
whether it is not wiser to at once enter our protest, feeble as it 
may be, against the entering wedge which may lift the founda- 
tion stones of the Republic from their resting place of a century 
and institute a radical departure from the time-honored traditions 
and practices of this country. This tendency is well illustrated 
by a leading editorial in one of the prominent and influential 
journals of the day, and which I here insert as a part of my re- 
marks: 

If wo mnst now establish a necessary and vital, as distinguished froTii their 
awn falsely assumed Hunker " traditional" policy, let us set at work about 



it at once. We have an excellent opportnnity to rlo so. Tho Hawaiif;.! I* 

anda are of the "groiuid ho.er"' and not oC the " traditional " kind of noceg- 

sity to us. We must have thom for purposes of tho Navy coalinpf, tho i)ro- 

tection of our Pacific coast, and the Nicaraffuan ('anal. We will liavc them! 

Tha.t being accomplLsheil, it may b3 prcdiirted that the ico of our " tradi- 
tional policy " will bo broken, and that narrow provincialism, once having 
wet its feet, will be induced to wet its hip pockets, and then to wade to tho 
other side of the stream. 

To the devil with '• traditional "^ policies which are only invoked to keep 
America in the condition of a counti'y school district! This is a great world 
nation with a grand possession in the Chinese seas. Before the week is out 
it will have other possessions in the Antilles. And it will keep and defend all 
that it gets. 

It will be seen that we are uot to confine onrselves to the West- 
ern Hemisphere; even North, Central, and South. Aznerica, with 
all of their adjacent islands and possessions, are not sufficient. 
In the language of the editorial, it is claimed- that "this is a gi"eat 
world nation, with a grand possession in the Chinese seas"— no 
pent-up Utica to confine our efforts, but, "like a Colossus, to be- 
stride the world," High-sounding phrases these, but whence do 
they lead? Has not the time come to consider whither we are 
drifting— to hesitate and to halt? *' Fools rush in where angels 
fear to tread." Let us not act in haste and repent at leisure. 

Why should Hawaii and the Philippine Islands become perma- 
nently a part of the United States? They are both agricultural if 
they are anything. Tliey will f u,rnish no market for any portion 
of the agricultural products of this country; on the conti-ary, very 
many of their products will come into competition with those of 
the United States. It may be that these islands have no manufac- 
tures, and as the Chinese tariff wall now surrounding this country 
would be enlai-ged to take in these new possessions, the protected 
manufacturers would have these people added as additional 
victims. 

The population of these islands is not desirable. It is composed 
chiefly of natives, Chinese, Japanese, and Malays, as foDows, ac- 
cording to the census of 1896: 



Popnlation. 


Number. 


Popnlation. 


Number. 


Hawaiians (pure and 


39, .504 
25,407 
21,S16 




15,291 


Americans 


3,0.^:0 


•Tananf^pf* 


British - 


^',A50 


C]liinp'v 


Germans -- 


1,432 









The majority of those in the Philippines are said to be little 
more than savages. A few years ago Congress absolutely forbid 
the further importation of Chinese into this country, passed laws 
restricting immigration, and there is now pending upon the Cal- 
endar of tliis House a bill to further restrict immigration. By 
the resolutions now under consideration and other measures to 
follow, it is proposed to incorporate into our population Chinese, 
Japanese, Malays, and a people classed as half savages. It is not 
desirable that they should come into competition with the labor 
of this counti-y. They are not desirable in any respect as citizens. 
They are not capitalists, or well-to-do, substantial citizens; their 
labor is of an inferior kind, and they make a small per cent of the 
wages commanded by labor tu this country. Many of the popu- 
lation of the Hawaiian Islands are afflicted with leprosy, and spe- 
35C5 



cial provision is made in tc-rritory for that class of nnfortnnatea. 
The plague-ridden districts and the jungles of the Philippine 
Islands are even more to be dreaded. 

L'nt the annexation of Hawaii is urged, first, as a commercial 
necessity; tliat the commercial bird shall have a place midway the 
Pacific to rest its weary wing and take on additional supplies. The 
answer might be, we have progressed very well for a hundred j'cars 
without these islands: but the answer is, taking the argument as 
sound, we already have such a place in Pearl Harbor on the is- 
lands— ours by treaty right. The bugbear that the annexationists 
heck to frighten us with— that if we do not annex these islands 
some foreign country will— is but a will-"o-the-wisp, because, under 
the Monroe doctrine as now enlarged and construed, we are as 
fully committed to resist the encroachment of any foreign coun- 
try into the Western Hemisphere as if we owned the islands. 
But. secondly, it is urged as a military necessity, and a great deal 
of military authority is quoted in its support, much of it respect- 
able and entitled to great weight, but some of it attracting atten- 
tion only by reason of the high-sounding titles attached to the 
self-constituted Solomons. 

This country ha,s waged a number of wars successfully without 
the.se islands. Instead of being a source of strength, to own and 
L^- responsible for outlying islands 2,000 miles from our shores, it 
entails added responsibility and is a source of weakness, military 
experts to the contrary notwithstanding. This is well illustrated 
by tlie present war with Spain. Have her islands been a source 
of strength or weakness to hcrV To ask the question suggests the 
negative answer to every sensible man. 

Sehor Sagasta, the premier of Spain, in an interview published 
a few days ago, said: 

Onr colonies have cost usdear. Within the last twenty five years we have 
.ipont in thcni 3,(KXJ,i)n(i.0U0 francs in defensive works. Only the most imi;or- 
t.Tut cities and iioints liave been fortified, as we could not erect works every- 
where. The cost would have been 7,(KXI,U(Xi,U0li or S,UOO,UUO,(>M fraues. 

Spain is struggling— struggling, oh, how desperately— to hold 
islands thousands of milts from her shores which she has owned 
for many years! Shall we repeat the story? Shall we annex the 
Philippines and Hawaii, all thousands of miles from us? How 
easy, in case of war, for an enemy to attack those islands, hun- 
dreds in number, with its fleet! We might have the greatest 
navy in the world, but we need it all to defend our Atlantic and 
Pacifu- .seacoasts, stretching thou.sands of miles. How easy for a 
f< ireign lleet to swoop down upon those distant possessions beyond 
the .seas! 

One of the strongest arguments in favor of the annexation of 
the Hawaiian Islands is that, being located in the Western Hemi- 
spliere, we would not consent under the Monroe doctrine to allow 
any other country in the Ea.stern to annex them, and, being re- 
sponsible to some extent for them, it might be better to annex 
them. Tliig .same argument, however, would apply to all the 
Central and South American .so-called Republics, and no one has 
had the liardihood so far to claim that they should be incorporated 
into our Ixjdy politic. 

As to the i'hilippines-and it is proper to consider them in the 
same connection, lor they all form part and parcel of the same 
general policy— they he in the Eastern Hemisphere, 8,000 miles 
Iroin our sliores, and off the coast of China and Japan. What is 



to becomo of onr cherished Monroe doctrine, that European 
nations can not extend their possessions in the Western Hemi- 
sphere, if we assert our right to extend our possessions into tlio 
Eastern Hemisphere? Can we assert our exclusive right to the 
Western Hemisphere and not extend the same right to European 
nations as to the Eastern? If we do not, maj- it not, and will it 
not, in the natural cour;=e of events, lead us, perhaps, into the 
greatest war the world has ever seen? 

I shall vote against the i^ending resolutions for the annexation 
of Hawaii, not because I can see no reason for their annexation, 
but because I consider the reasons against action at the present 
time outweigh those in favor of immediate action. This question 
should be postponed until this war is concluded, and the annexa- 
tion of outlying islands and the embarkation upon a policy of colo- 
nial extension and expansion should be a matter of serious and 
careful deliberation, to be entered upon, if at all, by Congress only 
in time of peace and after the sense of the people is taken upon 
the subject, 

I know tliese resolutions will be adopted by the House and, I 
suppose, by the Senate. They will become a law. and when the 
Hawaiian Islands are added to our territory we will protect and 
defend them as any other part of our cherished territory. Once 
added, nothing can separate. The arbitrament of war has decided 
this, and I would n-^t change the fiat in this respect. Wo are loyal 
citizens of a comiaon country, and v,"ill uphold and defend our 
common flag against the nations of the world. I would, however, 
that we might go slow in this new departure. I would that a 
general election might be held before these questions are pressed 
to a conclusion. Other matters claimed the attention of the peo- 
ple at the last election: another one is to beheld in a few months, 
and then the Representatives, fresh from the people, could be in- 
structed. But this is not to be. The Hawaiian Islands will be 
annexed; but let the Eepresentatives know the will of the people 
as to the new spirit of aggression and annexation which would 
plunge us headlong into complications with the balance of the 
world, the end whereof no man can foresee. 

This is not the first time that an island with an undesirable 
population has sought to be annexed to the United States. In 
1883 Haiti, an island much nearer to our shores, sought annexa- 
tion by this Government. Mr. Frelinghuysen, the then Secretary 
of State, replied that — 

The policy of this Government, as declared on many occasions in the past, 
has tended toward the avoidance of possessions disconnected with the main 
continent. Had the tendency of the United Stat-es heeu to extend territorial 
dominion lieyond intervening seas, opportunities have not been wanting to 
effect such a purpose, whether on the coast of Africa, in the West Indies, or 
in the South Pacific. No such opportunity has been hitherto embraced, and 
but little hope could be offered that Congress, which must in the ultimate 
resort be brought to decide the question of such transmarine jurisdiction, 
would favorably regard such an acquisition as his excellency proposes. At 
any rate, in its political aspect merely, this Government is unprepared to 
accept the proposition without the subjection to such wishes as Congress and 
the people of the United States through Congress may see fit to express. 

In 1884 Mr. Bayard, the then Secretary of State, wrote our min- 
ister to Germany, Mr. Pendleton, as follows: 

The policy of the United States, declared and pursued for more than a 
centurv, discountenances, and in practice forbids, distant colonial acquisi- 
tions, 'our action in the past, touching the acquisition of territory by pur- 
chase and cession, and our recorded disinclination to avail ourselves of vol 

3565 



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8 

Uiitary pr'.ff.is made bv othor powers to place territory under the sovereignty 
niitl protvctii.il of the Cnited .States arc inattL-rs of historical promiucnce. 

Our policy as to the annexation of distant territory was very 

succinctly stated l)y President Cleveland in his first message to 

Congress, as follows: 

Maintaining, as I do, the tenets of a line of precedents from Washington's 
day, wliich proscribo entangling alliances with foreign States, I do not favor 
the policy of aojuisition of new and distant territory, or the incorporation 
of remote interests with our own. 

Let lis stand by the Monroe doctrine. Let lis not covet the 
Eastern Hemisphere. Let the world know we wish to be at peace, 
jealously jzfuardini; and defending our own territorj-, while we 
concede" to others in the Eastern what we so jealously claim for 
ourselves in the Western Hemispliere. If we do this, I shall not 
regard the annexation of Hawaii as an unmixed evil, but fearing 
it is to be made a jirecedent for worse to come, I would halt until 
white-winged peace fans and cools our fevered imagination and 
brings ns back to normal conditions. 



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